Pep Guardiola has hinted that Joe Hart’s Manchester City career may be over after stating he is “so happy” with Claudio Bravo and Willy Caballero as goalkeepers.
The manager dropped Hart as the No1 in pre-season and allowed him be loaned to Torino until the end of the season. Guardiola bought Bravo from Barcelona to be Hart’s replacement but Caballero has superseded him after the Chilean recently lost his place.
Hart is due to return to City in the summer although Guardiola, when asked if the England goalkeeper might have a long-term future at the club, said: “I’m so happy with Willy and Claudio. We are going to talk about it [Hart’s future] at the end of the season.”
Caballero has started every match since late January apart from the goalless draw at Huddersfield in the FA Cup fifth round. In the lead‑up to the replay on Wednesday night Guardiola was asked if he might recruit a new goalkeeper in the next transfer window.
“I will decide about that at the end of the season. I trust a lot in both and we’ll decide – not just the goalkeepers, the midfielders, wingers, strikers, full-backs – we are going to decide at the end of the season,” said the Catalan, who admitted he could start next season with only Bravo and Caballero. “Yes.”
Caballero, who was signed by Manuel Pellegrini in 2011 from Málaga, is out of contract in June along with Jesús Navas, Yaya Touré, Gaël Clichy, Pablo Zabaleta and Bacary Sagna. “We’ll make a decision at the end of the season,” Guardiola said. “They [players out of contract] have to try to keep going, to convince me every day. There are five, six players out of contract but they know the situation. Of course there is a risk, maybe they can sign a contract for another club and we have to accept that. But we are going to decide in the last months of the season.”
Guardiola is still to decide which keeper will face David Wagner’s team at the Etihad Stadium. “I have to think about it, not just with our goalkeepers. We were one week out. It is not how tired they are, more a final against one team who impressed a lot when we played there. They are [near the] top of the Championship and sometimes teams top of the Champ are stronger than some of the teams in the Premier League.”
City returned from a four-day trip to Abu Dhabi on Saturday. There Guardiola met Sheikh Mansour, the owner, for the first time. The head coach signed a three-year deal when taking over last summer but the proprietor wants him to stay longer. “He knows and I know that it all depends on the results,” the 45-year-old said. “He would like that I stay here for a long, long, long, long time. But of course it depends on the results. If not, they would say what happened, what can we do. What we need to improve, to improve. That’s the process – to finish the process they are going to help us.
“I had a good relations with almost all my owners in Barcelona and Bayern Munich [former clubs] – it is important to know them. We are here because of the results. If the results are not good we are replaced. We are together, both departments, the chairman and managers, we have the same target, so the people can be proud of us.”
Guardiola has not been given any specific material goals. “We didn’t speak about that,” he said. ‘They will be happy if we win. I know we have to win but I’ve handled that in the past and I will in the present. We spoke about private lives, families, the club. What’s my impression after six months, half a year here. They are able to help us, not just me but the people at the club, the staff. They were so kind.”